"I Didn't Know Japan Would Take Line"... Outrage Pours Out at Japanese Travel YouTuber

Critical Comments on Travel YouTuber Ppanibottle's Video
"Please Kindly See It as Light Travel" Statement

Naver is facing the risk of having its stake in Japan's Line Yahoo forcibly taken away, which has heightened anti-Japanese sentiment. Amid this, travel YouTuber and broadcaster Ppanibottle (Park Jae-han, 37) has angered netizens by uploading Japanese travel content.

Uploading Japanese travel content for two weeks... "I didn't know Japan would take over Line, please take it lightly"

Travel YouTuber Ppanibottle uploaded a video about her trip to Osaka and received criticism from netizens.
[Image source=YouTube capture]

On the 9th, Ppanibottle posted Japanese travel content but uploaded a clarification after receiving strong criticism from some netizens. These netizens protested with comments such as "Why are you going to Japan in this situation?" and "You seem to like Japan too much." Ppanibottle stated, "Everyone, I also didn't know Japan would take over Line," and added, "What would someone like me know? I would appreciate it if you could just see it as light travel content."

Ppanibottle has been uploading Japanese travel content with titles like "Racing through Japan since birth" and "Visiting a strange amusement park made by an eccentric" for the past two weeks. On the 8th and 9th, he showed scenes of eating in Osaka and visiting a small amusement park, riding bicycles and rides, together with Korean YouTuber living in Japan, 'Kanjjang-ui Girok.' This led some netizens to start posting harsh criticism comments on the videos. Given the recent situation where the Japanese government is pressuring the sale of shares in Naver's Line, the largest messenger used by 96 million people in Japan, some expressed that Ppanibottle's Japanese travel was ill-timed.

Ppanibottle is a first-generation travel YouTuber with 2.19 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and has been actively involved in broadcasting, including recently appearing on MBC's entertainment program "World Tour Since Birth."

"Line incident, Korean government must step in"… Strong calls for response as Japan begins 'erasing Naver'

Meanwhile, on the 8th, Japan's Line Yahoo officially demanded that Korean Naver sell its stake. Line Yahoo is a company jointly owned half by Naver and Japan's SoftBank and also operates Japan's largest portal, Yahoo. It was reported through Japanese media that due to pressure from the Japanese government over a personal information leak incident last November, which Naver had been entrusted to manage, Naver was asked to sell its shares to SoftBank.

Takeshi Idezawa, CEO of Line Yahoo, stated at the Line Yahoo financial results briefing on the 8th, "We will sequentially terminate the consignment relationship with major shareholder Naver and promote independence from a technical cooperation relationship," adding, "We are strongly requesting a change in capital from the consignment party (Naver)." As Japan's 'erasing Naver' campaign intensifies, voices calling for "the Korean government to actively respond" are growing stronger domestically as well.